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Episode 1234: The First Baseman Who Blogs
Date June 22, 2018 Summary Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan banter about Coors Field, Domingo German, the amazing Max Scherzer, Tyler Chatwood, Kole Calhoun’s comeback, the writing process, Marcell Ozuna’s catch attempt, Ichiro and the Home Run Derby, and the AL playoff picture, then bring on 31-year-old MLB-player-turned-FanGraphs-writer Nate Freiman (20:22) to talk about his recent embrace of advanced stats, coding, and blogging, his record-setting college career, his short-lived attempt at being a two-way player, how being 6-foot-8 affects hitting (and catching), getting picked in the Rule 5 draft, being a platoon player, why pinch-hitting is hard, pressure and clutchness, clubhouse chemistry, the WBC, the 2014 AL wild card game and Jon Lester’s pickoff yips, playoff shares, coordinating pickoff attempts, hitting stats vs. pitching stats, playing in indy ball and Mexico, deciding to stop playing, interacting with the media, golfing vs. hitting, and more. Topics * How did Nate become a sabermetrician and blogger * Does Nates history as a player help him as a blogger * Have teams reached out to Nate * Nates batting practice home run * 2 way playing career * How was your perception of the strike zone * Being a platoon player * Was skipping AAA hurtful in your career overall * Experience of a Rule 5 pick * Being a pinch hitter * Mexican league baseball in Mexico City * Why retire when you did * Playing right field and catcher * Max Muncey * Who benefits more from all the new information * Clubhouse chemistry * 2014 Wild Card game * Awareness of Jon Lester's Yips * Playing in the World Baseball Classic * Relationship with media * Golf swing v baseball swing * Bates bullpen article * Sliding into first base Intro The Jayhawks, "Comeback Kids" Interstitial XTC, "Ten Feet Tall" Outro The Baseball Project, "Twilight of My Career" Banter * The beauty of Coors Field * Domingo German * Max Scherzer * Tyler Chatwood * Kole Calhoun * Ichiro home run derby * Marcell Ozuna unneeded and unsuccessful home run rob attempt * AL playoff picture Notes * Domingo German has the second highest swinging strike rate in baseball. * The league average of pitchers get to 0-2 count is 25%, Max Scherzer gets there 43%. * Tyler Chatwood is up to 67 walks and hit batters in 68.1 innings. * Kole Calhoun would have to go 1 -4 with a homer for 31 consecutive games to get up to 100 wRC+ (average). * Ben pleads with Ichiro to participate in the home run derby. * Nate blew out his elbow in his first inning of his first start as a 2 way player, it was his last game as a 2 way player. * Nate had a 121 tOPS+ against lefties and a 28 tOPS+ vs righties. * Nate thinks the run prevention side gets more a bump from all the added information. * “Clubhouse chemistry can’t help you win but it can help you rebound from losing"- Nate Links * Effectively Wild Episode 1234: The First Baseman Who Blogs * Link to Jeff’s Domingo German post * Link to J.P. Hoornstra’s Kole Calhoun article * Link to Marcell Ozuna play * Link to Meg Rowley’s AL playoff picture article * Link to Jeff Passan’s report on the Mexican League * Link to Nate’s xWOBA post * Link to Nate’s bullpens post * Link to Ben’s Mexico City altitude post * Link to Nate’s WBC post Category:Episodes Category:Guest Episodes